Have prices actually risen for Sandmans? They were pulling $40000 for a good one when this site started.
If anything the price for a genuine one in need of restoration has dropped. Everyone was paying 10 to 15k for any old rust bucket. I see that HX Sandman ute that was factory L31 sold for a bit less than $4500. Need full resto.
Maybe if they had put easy proof of Sandman ID on all Sandmans (like XX7) they would command more money. Replicas like this just keep the market at replica price in my opinion.